Tobacco-leaf crusher



S. PELLS.

TOBACCQ LEAF CRUSHE R. APPLICATION FILED AUG..2. 1920.

Patented Dec. 27, 1921.

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S. PELLS.

TOBACCO LEAF CRUSHER.

APPLICATION FILED Aus.2. 1920.

1,401,438, Patented Dec. 27, 1921.

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Q SAMUEL PELLS. WM/woo UNITED STATES llAIENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL PELLS, F OMAHA, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T0 J. L. GALBRETH,OF SUPERIOR, NEBRASKA.

TOBACCO-LEAF CRUSHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 2'7, 1921.

Application filed August 2, 1920. Serial No. 400,658.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL PnLLs a c1t1- zen of the United States,residing at bmaha, in the county of Douglas and State of Nobraska, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Tobacco-Leaf Crushers ofwhich the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements. in tobacco leaf crushers,and has for an object to provide an apparatus which is adapted to crushthe stems in combination with the leaves in such a way as to produce auniform thickness of the leaf and stem whereby the former may beutilized and the additional operations of stripping and stemming may bedispensed with.

Another object of the invention hes in providing an apparatus in which,in addition to t 1e crushing of the leaf so as to reduce it to a uniformthickness throughout, the leaf may be also dried and put in con ditionfor immediate baling.

A further object of the inventlon resides in providing an apparatuswhich will crush and dry the tobacco leaf in such a way that the wholemay be utilized for the manufacturing of cigars and tobacco in otherforms without having to destroy the natural leaf or alter it in anyform.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be morefully described hereinafter, and will be more particularly pointed outin the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like symbols re- Fig. 4 is a vertical sectionalview taken substantially centrally therethrough.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view in horizontal. section of one of the slidablebearing blocks and its supporting standard.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the apparatus embodies abase which is placed upon a sultable support, and has erected at itssides spaced-apart standards 1.1

and 12 which are provided with vertically extending slots 13 and 1 1 atthe upper portions thereof. In the slot 13 are mounted a pair ofvertically sliding bearing blocks 15 and 16, while similar bearingblocks 17 and 18 are carried in the slot 14 and have a verticallysliding movement therein.

Coil springs 19 and 20 are placed between the bearing blocks and tend tomaintain the same apart. The lower bearings 15 and 17 are maintained bythe coil springs at the bottom of the slots 18 and 14, while said upperbearing blocks 16 and 18 are held by the same screws yieldingly againstthe lower ends of set screws 21 and 22 adjustably threaded through crosspieces 23 and 24 carried by the upper end of the standards 11 and 12.The bearing blocks nave suitable openings to receive the trunnions of apair of rollers 25 and 26, the edges of which are corrugated, asindicated in Fig. 1.

As shown more particularly in Fig. 4, the truunions 27 and 28 of therollers are made solid and receive inter-meshing gear Wheels 29 and 30by which they are caused to move in unison though in op Jositedirections. A reduced extension 31 o" the upper trunnion 27" providesfor receiving a pulley wheel 32 and also, if desirable, a manual crank33. A belt (not shown) may be engaged with the wheel 32 for driving theapparatus from a suitable source of power. It is to be understood thateither hand or machine power may be employed at pleasure.

The opposite trunnious $34; of each of the rolls or drums are madehollow in order to receive the two electrical leads 35 and 36 by whichcurrent is circulated through a resistance coil 37 wound upon a suitablecore 38 within the hollow drums. The leads 35 and 36 respectivelyconnect with rings 39 and 40 moimted between flanged insulating collars4:1 and 4-2 carried upon the hollow trun nions beyond the bearingblocks.

Brushes a3 and 44 held by suitable brackets 15 on he standards engagethe rings 39 and 40. As shown in Fig. 1, a battery or other source ofcurrent 46 is connected in circuit with the brushes so as to supply thenecessary energy to the resistance coils. A drying chamber providcd'in ahousing 47 adjacent the standards, and this housing is closed save forthe provision of small. slots 48 and 19 made in opposite ends thereoffor the introduction and ejection of the tobacco leaves. The leaves arereceived on an apron 50 having its free receiving end disposed betweenthe rollers 25 and 26, this apron being supported by a brace 51. Theleaves are guided by a lip 52 above the opening 48 held by a racket 53.

A somewhat similar apron 5-1- is arranged at the other slot Q9 and aguiding lip 55 is provided above the slot to direct the leaves onto theapron so that they may with facility find their way out of the dryingchamber.

Within such chamber is a belt conveyer 56 moving over rollers 57 and 58journaled upon standards 59 and 60. The belt conveyer 56 is driven bysuitable apparatus, but inasmuch as it forms no part of the invention,it is omitted from the illustration. A tension roller 61 carried by aframe 62 adapted to oscillate about a center 63 is provided inconjunction with the belt and is held against the lower run thereof in ayielding manner by the action of a coil spring 64 connected at its upperend to a tail piece 65 of the frame 62 and having its lower end engagedin an eye 66 at the base of the drying chamber. 7

A. heating coil 67 is also mounted in the chamber in combination with asuitable source of energy 68. Of course, it will be understood thatappropriate switches and other controlling apparatus may be used inconnection with both of the battery circuits.

The various bearing blocks, as shown in Fig. 5, are provided withflanges 69 forming channels to receive the standards at the side of theslots whereby they may be guided in their vertical reciprocatingmovement.

In use, tobacco leaves in their whole and natural form without beingstemmed or stripped are fed between the corrugated rollers 25 and 26which are rotated either by means of the hand crank 33 or a pulley wheelThe set screws 21 and 22 are so adjusted as to provide for the properspacing of the rollers where they come together upon the tobacco leaves,and in this way the amount of the crushing action may be accuratelygoverned.

The corrugations of the one roller will fit between those of the otherand will exert a heavy crushing action on the stems of the leaves, theregulation being such that the stems will be flattened out in suchmanner that the entire leaf including the stems will be reduced to auniform thickness suitable for wrapping into cigars or for themanufacture of other tobacco articles.

The leaves are automatically passed out from the opposite sides of therollers onto the apron 50 and are guided by the lip 52 in combinationwith the apron through the slot 48 and onto the conveyer 56 within thedrying chamber 417- The rollers 25 and 26 are, of course, heated by theresistance coils contained therein, and, as previously mentioned, thedegree of this heat may be regulated by the use of switches, resistance,or other well-known means. The rollers will therefore, in addition tocrushing the stems, also act to initially dry the leaves, out it willprobably be necessary to further dry the same in order to put thempromptly in condition for baling. This latter drying is accomplished inthe chamber f? as the leaves are moved slowlv across the same on theconveyor belt 56. p

This chamber is closed from the atmosphere except at the points of ent'ance and exit of the tobacco leaves, and, as previously mentioned, isheated by the action of the electric coil 67. It will therefore beappreciated that a suitable dryness will pervade the whole chamber suchas will entirely dry out the leaves, and, of course, the conveyor 56will be regulated in its movement in conformity with the degree of thedryness in the chamber 17.

The leaves suitably crushed and dried pass out through the opening l9and are thereafter packaged or baled.

I do not wish to be restricted to the size, form, and proportions of thevarious parts, and obviously changes could be made in the constructionherein described without departing from the spirit of the invention, itbeing only necessary that such changes fall within the scope of theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device of the character described comprising a housing havingopenings in its front and rear portions, a conveyor in the housing,means to heat the housing, an apron extending through one opening in thehousing at the lower part of such opening and having its inner enddisposed close to the receiving end of said conveyor, said apronextending at an inclination downwardly into the housing, leaf crushingmeans disposed outwardly of the housing and adjacent the higher end ofsaid apron, a lip above the apron also extending at an inclinationdownwardly and inwardly through the opening into the housin the upperouter end of said lip being curved, a second apron extending at the rearof the housing and passing through the opening therein, said apron beingdisposed on an inclination downwardly and outwardly and having itshigher inner end arranged close to the discharge end of the conveyor,and a lip inwardly of the housing at the rear opening arranged on aninclination and having its higher end disposed above the inner end ofsaid second mentioned apron.

2. A device of the character ocsciibed comprising leaf crushing means, ahousing mounted adjacent said leaf crushing means, heating means in thehousing, a conveyor also entirely within the housing, said housinghaving openings in its front and rear walls, the opening in the frontwall being at a higher elevation and being disposed above the receivingend of the conveyer, the other opening being disposed below the deliveryend of said conveyer, an inclined apron ex tending through the frontopening in the housing having its higher end disposed to receive leavesfrom said crushing means and with its lower inner end arranged near thereceiving end of the conveyer, an inclined lip above said a ron having agreater inclination than t e apron and extending through the frontopening in the housing,

a rear apron extending on an inclination through the lower portion ofthe rear opening in the housing and having its higher inner end disposedclose to the delivery end of the conveyer, and a second lip supported 20within the housing and at a greater inclination than said last mentionedapron and having its higher inner end disposed above the inner end ofsaid apron.

In testimony whereof, I have afiixed my 25

